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A Bloomingdale man on Thursday was convicted on a murder charge in the 2011 death of his wife during an all-night beating.

Robert Lee Robbins, 62, was convicted in the death of Susan Robbins, 59, who died at Hospice Savannah on March 5, 2011, nearly a month after she was hospitalized with injuries suffered at her RV home at 415 Adams Road in Bloomingdale.

The jury acquitted Robbins on a malice murder charge, finding him guilty on charges of felony murder, aggravated assault and three counts of aggravated battery in the case.

Chatham County Chief Judge Michael Karpf deferred sentencing until a later date.

Robbins rejected an open-ended plea offer to a voluntary manslaughter charge prior to trial, then tried to replace his lawyer just before trial began.

He told Karpf he had an unidentified lawyer who would offer new unspecified evidence in this case, but Karpf rejected the last-minute delay attempt, instructing Robbins he could go to trial with attorney Brian Daly or represent himself.

Assistant District Attorney Frank Pennington II told jurors the victim had been “beaten, bruised and broken” by her husband.

“This case is about a horrible beating perpetrated by her husband,” he told the jury.

According to prosecutors, Robbins beat the victim with a piece of wood “over and over and over again” overnight on Feb. 7-8, 2011.

He conceded that both the defendant and victim drank a lot, but said there was no excuse for the crime.

Including in the victim’s injuries were 47 rib fractures, a broken collar bone and numerous head injuries.

Evidence showed Robbins consumed a box of wine, a bottle of whiskey and peppermint Schnapps during the night.

Daly told jurors that was “no doubt” the victim had been savagely beaten but asked the jury, “Is there enough evidence to say Mr. Robbins did it?

“The state’s case is based on hearsay… and conjecture, suspicion,” Daly said in his opening statements. “But it is not based on evidence.”

A niece, Elizabeth Grimes, told police the victim said “her husband beat her with a board last night,” prosecutors said, but Grimes denied in on the witness stand.

She later said the victim told her she fell off the camper while sweeping it.

Evidence showed the injuries suffered by the victim were inconsistent with such a fall.

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